The present invention refers to a clamping apparatus comprising a chuck member and a pallet member adapted to be releasably fixed to the chuck member. The chuck member comprises clamping means for clamping the pallet to the chuck member and first centering means, while the pallet member has second centering means adapted to cooperate with the first centering means to define the relative position between the chuck member and the pallet.
Clamping apparatuses of the kind mentioned above are mainly used to fix work pieces in a positionally well defined manner in the machining area of a machine tool. Thereby, the work piece first is fixed to a pallet and then, the pallet is releasably attached to the chuck member. Alternatively, the work piece itself can constitute the pallet. In most cases, the chuck member itself is fixedly attached to the machine tool. Commonly, such clamping apparatuses are used with milling, grinding, polishing and erosion machines.
A problem in machining the work piece may exist insofar as the machining tool and/or machining fluid jets can excite the clamping apparatus to vibrations, thereby impairing the quality of machining of the work piece.